


A Dark Power...

by Anorien



Category: Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (2012), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 11:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/638607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anorien/pseuds/Anorien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An ancient evil has permeated Southern Greenwood.<br/>Part 1 of 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dark Power...

A great clamour arose in the forest. Guards shouted at each other to get out of the way. Every path was left with a trail of dust and flattened grass as the wizard made his way North to Central Greenwood.

A great toboggan, made from the fallen limbs of great trees, crashed and jerked as it flew through the wood. A dozen great hares tore along the ground, leaves and dirt flung into the air in their wake, pulling the sled. Behind them on the deck, the brown wizard Radagast shouted at them to make haste. And hast they made, for even the rabbits of Rhosgobel knew of the urgent news he brought.

***

The King of Greenwood was having tea with his wife, Celendriel, when a frantic guardsman came calling for him.

"My Lord!" he said, bowing to the lady. "My Lord, Radagast has come." Thranduil stood, confused as to why the wizard would have come so far North.

"Radagast? I don't believe we were expecting him," Thranduil replied, looking to Celendriel. 

"He has requested you. He says it is urgent," the Elf said.

With a curious tilt of the head and a "Very well," Thranduil left the balcony and made for the front courtyards. There, he saw a very distraught Radagast, who was whipping his head back and forth as if searching for something, and making hooting sounds under his breath. Turning, he saw Thranduil approaching, and jogged to greet him. Thranduil put a hand to his chest.

" _Le suilon_ , Aiwendil," he said. "Long has it been since last we met. Indeed you do not come North often enough."

"King Thranduil," said the wizard, panting, panic in his voice, "You must call for a council. Gather your best advisers." He lifted his hat, and two small birds fluttered out, and he replaced it.

"Council? Whatever for?"

"Hoo, this is urgent!" Radagast lowered his voice. "There is great danger!"

Still confused, Thranduil ordered for his advisers to be summoned. 

***

The Council was gathered in a small chamber carved from the living rock near the palace. Radagast paced about, staff thumping on the stone floor. Seated were several other Elves - some ambassadors to Imladris and Lothlorien, some from other parts of the Greenwood - and one of the Wood-men. Thranduil stood before them.

"I thank you all for coming, and on such terribly short notice." He did his best to ignore Radagast's fretting and whistling on the other side of the room. "It would seem that Radagast brings urgent news." With that, Thranduil took his seat. The wizard stroked his crooked half-mustache and turned. 

"Hoo! The tidings I bring are very, very ill!" he said, most of his words directed at the king. "A great evil is penetrating the Wood!"

"Great evil?" asked one of the Northern Elves.

"Yes! And one we have not seen for almost an Age! Thranduil..." his face grew grim, his voice lowering, "The fortress at Amon Lanc has been rebuilt!"

"Rebuilt?" Thranduil replied with some shock. "I ordered nothing of the sort."

"Hoo, but this order, did not come from you! No no! This is not Elf-work! No! 

"Near my home in Rhosgobel, I was walking one day, and what did I see? Hm! A fox, dead on the ground! A fox I very well knew! Oh what a rascal he was, incredibly healthy too! I thought perhaps, the, Wood-men had shot him, but I found no arrows. I thought perhaps, hm, he had just grown old, but I recall the days when he was a kit, and it was not long ago. No, this was not a natural death. No, because right next to him, not three feet away, what do I find? Black mushrooms!"

"There are no black mushrooms near Rhosgobel," another Wood-Elf interrupted.

"There aren't, not in good times! But these are indeed evil times. I was, walking along, and what did I find? More dead animals, and rotting trees! The sap tasted very foul, and I would not touch the berries, how awful they looked! And then... then I went onward, only to find another dear friend of mine. Sebastian, a young hedgehog, lying on the ground, crying out in pain. My dear Sebastian! I hurried him home to cure him. Oh but, hoo, he would not eat! He would take no medicine! He was moments from death, and I began to panic. 'This is no witchcraft!' I said. But I was wrong, so very wrong! I took the stone from my staff, here, and as I recited a spell, a black fog came out of poor Sebastian's mouth."

The Wood-man heaved an audible sigh. "My lord Thranduil, forgive me, but I cannot take this seriously! You call a council, simply because a hedgehog ate a rotten berry?" Radagast was about to reply, but Thranduil held up a hand to silence them.

"Indeed it is strange, but as queer as the tale is, I cannot bring myself to think that Radagast, of all people, would make up stories about something so serious. But I must ask, how do you know it was witchcraft? And how is it such a great threat to us here?"

"Hoo, I'll tell you! See, when I was, hm, when I was reciting the spell, I noticed something, climbing up my windows. It looked familiar, and I thought to myself, hoo, 'No, it can't be'. Ahh but it was! One of them, mm, pushed a hole right through my roof! As soon as Sebastian was well, I put him in a little bed and went out to see what it was. And what did my eyes see? Hm. A swarm of great spiders."

Thranduil's eyes widened, alarmed. "Spiders?"

"Yes! Yes, spiders! Hoo. Not just any little garden spiders, either, no... these were massive. It was as if they were the spawn of... her. Ungoliant." His voice grew very dark. Thranduil was now greatly worried. 

"Where did they go?"

"Ah, well, I was watching them march along, when a thrush approached me! He said," and here Radagast spoke in the language of the woodland birds, "and I told him to show me! I gathered my rabbits and followed him... they led me straight to the Old Fortress! A great black cloud hangs over it, yes. I went to have a look and see, hoo, perhaps I could find the brood. No no, what I saw was worse than any spider. I had a great feeling, hm, of dread when I passed the bridge. I felt as though... someone, was watching me. I was looking around, and I turned, only to see a great white mist, rising up from a shattered pillar! It let out a terrible screech that almost deafened me. He wielded a sword, unlike any made in the world today."

"A sword of the Noldor?" asked the Wood-man. But an Elf shook her head. 

"It is unlikely," said she. "Any such weapons would have been taken North. They are much too valuable to be left behind."

Radagast nodded. "You're quite correct! It was no sword of Elvish-make, no." His voice became grim. "This was a blade, forged in the Second Age... in Mordor."

The others cringed at the name, but the Elvenking kept his face stoic. "How do you know this?"

"There is no comparison, especially not to this one!" Radagast said. "I may not have travelled so far East, but I'd know a Morgul blade when I saw one. Hoo! And this is one! If you do not believe me, I could bring it forth."

"No, we shall take you at your word," said Thranduil.

"But there should be no Morgul-blades in this realm!" one of  Thranduil's advisers said. "The last known sword was that of the Witch-King of Angmar, and it was buried with him. Even if one were to try, you could not retrieve the sword - his tomb is sealed with an enchantment. It could not be recovered."

"Unless one knew the spell to open the tomb," Thranduil replied.

"And who would know such a spell? It is not know to the Elves, and I doubt that even the Istari in all their power would be able to recite it."

Here Radagast spoke again. "There was but one who knew the spell." He turned to Thranduil. "After I had fought with this... wraith, I shall call it... I watched the sword fall to the ground. It was then that I felt a breeze, cold as the hands of death itself! I looked up, and I saw it... I saw _him_."

Thranduil tilted his head, and beckoned for the wizard to go on.

"A great black figure, shrouded in darkness, as if no light could touch it. A shadowy cloak surrounded him, and a great helm. I could not see his face, mm... But looking at the figure, I knew who it was. 

An Elf of the South spoke next. "My King, the Southern Guard has spoken of a great figure cloaked in black. They say with him follows a dread as if they were at the very hands of death. Many fear to approach the Fortress."

Radagast looked straight into the eyes of the Elvenking. "You know of whom I speak, Thranduil."

The king swallowed, trying with all his might to keep from showing fear in his face. Indeed, he knew exactly who Radagast meant. 

"You mean to tell us this Necromancer is the Dark Lord?" said an Elf of the North incredulously. Radagast gave a quick and sharp nod.

"I would not believe it myself," Thranduil said quietly, "but the Ruling Ring survived the Battle, did it not? Sauron's life force was bound to the Ring, and as long as it exists, there is every chance the Great Deceiver could return."

"The Ring could not be in Greenwood," said an Elf from Imladris. "Its presence would be unmistakable."

Thranduil nodded slowly, then turned to the wizard. "What would you advise we do, Aiwendil?" 

 

 

\------------------------

Author's Note

 

First off, I would like to mention how much fun I had in writing Radagast! I've never written him as a character before, but my goodness, he is wonderful. 

  * Celendriel is a character I created many years ago to be Thranduil's wife.
  * _"Le suilon"_  - "I greet thee".
  * Aiwendil - one of Radagast's names
  * Radagast hoots and whistles when he speaks. I drew this from several inspirations: The first was an interview with Sylvester McCoy, where he's talking about working with "Gandalf" and hoots excitedly. Radagast is also a friend and lover of birds, and it seemed fit to have him speak in bird from time to time. I also drew inspiration from the Night Hob in Michael Ende's "Never Ending Story", who often hoots during conversation. Radagast's odd noises and "hm"s add to the eccentricity of his character, who we already know to be rather odd.
  * I know there's a lot of "comma abuse" here. I apologize for that. But again, Radagast has a tendency to pause and stop during conversation. I added in extra commas and elipses (...) to convey that.
  * Amon Lanc - "the naked hill". It was once the capital of Greenwood, during King Oropher's rule. Some time after the War of the Last Alliance, Thranduil had moved the capital north. The fortress there was abandoned.
  * Ungoliant - the first of the Great Spiders, mother of Shelob. She was an ally of Morgoth. She is the grandmother of the Mirkwood spiders.
  * I know I left a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, but there are two reasons for this: The first being that I really don't know what Radagast's advice would be, if he had any. That's the unfortunate thing about "minor" characters, there's no telling what they might do in certain circumstances. And this is also a two-part fic, so Thranduil will discuss any decisions made in the next part.



I do hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!


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